Another weekend away

House moving still hasn't happened....well it sort of has, in that I'm at the new house but sleeping in a tent until the back house is ready.  There's a big flat deck on the roof of the front house which is perfect for camping out under the stars.  It's really peaceful, except for the cat hacking up hairballs next to my tent at 1:30am, and having to move the tent halfway through the night because of a storm.  I have definitely been getting the "white people are crazy" look from our night guard!  The weather looks bad next week so I shall camp in the front house living room for a bit :)

This last weekend was a teacher excursion.  Global Effect funds a few trips each year so we get to see some of the country and spend some time together.  This weekend was at Snow Cap Cottages, a place I went to with the Mountain Club a few months ago.  It's about 2.5 hours away on the other side of Kili and is in such a lush and beautiful area.  The best part was escaping from the heat.  It's a lot higher up and was cool enough that we could sleep under bed covers, wear jeans and hoodies, and even enjoy an open fire!  Soooooo needed! There was no internet access, and for part of the time it was raining which meant lots of time enjoying blankets and books.

Comfy snuggly bed :)

Green makes me happy

On a group walk

Mawenzi peeking out from the clouds

Yep, just hanging out in our hut...in our field...

Taylor and a rather huge sunflower

Early morning

Mawenzi and Kili....from the TZ side they are reversed!

Stunning Kili! It was so worth the early morning walk

With Rebecca and Taylor

A close-up of Kili

Looking towards Kenya. I love all the layers!

Holidays, where have you gone???

After spending the whole of last quarter counting down to our Easter break it has gone way too fast!  As a side note, it has been my personal mission to name this holiday Easter break rather than Spring break as it's called in the US.  Wrong hemisphere people!  Thankfully my American colleagues have been very accommodating, and it will hereby be called Easter break..haha

The weather has been crazily hot this last week, 35-36 degrees during the day, and often still 30 degrees at 10pm!  This wouldn't be such a big deal if there was such a thing as air-con.  If the power is on we can have fans, but even then it's quite hot to get to sleep.  I end up starfishing on the bed with a fan on full power 1cm from my nose.  Not fun!

This last week has most definitely been introvert recharge time.  We were supposed to be moving house (the rent here has been put up, so time to find a cheaper place) but it hasn't really happened!  The four people I've been living with are all moving into one house on the next property, but I'm moving into the back house with Taylor and Rebecca.  The new front house is ready, so they have all moved and I'm just hanging out waiting for the other house to be ready.  Last I saw there was still no floor...haha.  In the meantime, I'll be enjoying some introvert time :)

In the last few days I've been on some adventures, although it's getting harder to find new places close to Moshi where I haven't already adventured!  On Good Friday I went on a motorbike ride with the minister from my church to a place called Kibosho.  It's uphill from our place towards Kili.  Being higher up it's a bit cooler too!  There is an amazing big church as well as a convent with really nice gardens.  It was a great place to explore.

Today was a very random adventure.  I met two Australians at church who were visiting from Arusha (about 1.5 hours away) and was so excited to see some Aussies that we spent the afternoon together.  Some other people visiting from the UK were going to Uru Waterfall so we tagged along.  It was super nice to catch up with people who actually knew where Tasmania was, and even asked what city I was from!  The scenery was great, although next time I'll bring my swimmers :)

 Hanging out with Liz and Tracey

Back to school tomorrow for a preparation day before kids come the following day, then parent teacher interviews on Friday.  One week of holidays is just not sufficient!  Still, the next holidays are 2.5 months, so I won't complain.....

God's blessings :)

Kili Half Marathon done!!!!

After several weeks cramming in some training, today I ran the Kili Half Marathon!

I've done a half marathon before, but this one was rather epic.  Even the training was a funny experience, since some of the world's fastest runners come from East Africa.  The week before last when I was out running I had a local runner stop and say, "Madam, are you ok?" with a total look of concern!  Yes, I'm ok, this is just how I look when I run....sigh!  It was so sweet how encouraging everyone was in the training weeks though.  Whenever another runner runner would pass me (which happened often!) they would give me a mini round of applause, which was often enough motivation to do another few kms.

After getting up at 5:30am all the people running from our organisation met up to walk 2kms to the start line.  Parking is rather crazy so it was the only option!  Six other people did the half (including 3 housemates) whilst others did the 5km.  We'd been on a drive around the course last night so I knew what to expect: lots and lots of hills!  Thankfully it's the first half of the race that is hilly, and the second half is generally a gentle downhill slope, except for a hill right at the end which was sooo painful!  I managed to run the whole thing, and only really felt pain for the last 3kms. By that time it was pretty hot too!  I kept a slow pace and finished in around 2hrs 35 mins.  It was great being part of a group, and seeing people I knew watching along the course.  Having friends cheer and in turn cheering for others when they entered the stadium was really special.  We were all so stoked to finish, though not so stoked about walking 2kms uphill back to our car...after all that running it hurt!  Lovely Allie stood at the finish line and took some epic photos.  I think there are some professional ones available on the website at some point so I'll add those later too.

Half Marathon gals before the craziness began....

Walking to the start line....still bedtime methinks

Allie took a pretty pic of Kili at the stadium!

Entering the stadium...woot!

Taylor and I in the aftermath...

Go team HOPE!

Kara, Alma, Taylor, Rebecca and I.  We did it!

 It has been a rather intense day and I'm loving every bit of relaxing now before school tomorrow. Overall though, I'm happy to have another special memory (+ medal and t-shirt!) from this beautiful part of the world.  Only three weeks until school holidays!

School, school and more school

This quarter is sooooo long!  I remember last quarter wishing we would have one full week of uninterrupted school after endless public holidays.  This quarter though, zero school days off for 10 weeks.  To be honest, it's not so bad as class is pretty routine now.  I am really loving my class and have discovered a love for high school teaching.  I never thought I'd be keen for teaching older kids, but it is seriously so much fun.  

Last month I took the class on an excursion to Natural Extract Industries, a small company that processes vanilla extract and cocoa.  No need to fill out risk assessments here, and transport was all of us jumping in the teacher van and me driving!  It was the most relaxing excursion I've ever organised! The students were really polite and asked lots of interesting questions.  It was so special when the guide was showing us everything in the laboratory.  At school we don't have any Science resources at all so even the test tubes were fascinating!  Of course I bought some cocoa and made the class chocolate cookies for the next day....a good excuse for some baking! We also went to Uhuru hostel for Samosas and soda.  It was $12 well spent as they had a great time chatting and trying out the playground.

Learning about how vanilla is processed and stored

The kids asked great questions and the guide was so enthusiastic

Van selfie...so there weren't enough seats for all the kids...
no bother here!

Samosas and soda at Uhuru

Kids are never too old to try out a new playground :) 

Since this quarter is so long, we had a break from routine this week and had a Technology Challenge Day!  This involved the students working in pairs to complete 4 challenges involving design and construction.  The class can get super competitive, so I talked with them at the start about always putting people before tasks and they were amazing!  The main challenge (worth double points) was to create a rubber-band powered car that could travel the longest distance.  They were so encouraging of each other and came up with some pretty cool designs.

Building the tallest possible tower out of 3 sheets of paper

Designing a cardboard bridge that can hold the most water

Rubber-band car construction begins.....

Using toilet paper rolls to make the longest running marble run

Car testing time!

So it seems February has been all about school and not much else.  Still, that's the reason I'm here and I am learning a lot.  Admittedly I didn't love the school in the beginning as I felt I had so little say in anything and was treated more like a student teacher rather than an experienced teacher.   That has changed a lot since then though and I'm learning how and when to speak up about things, and when to keep my mouth shut!  Life in Little America is still frustrating at times, but I feel I have a place here and am excited to see how I can contribute towards this rather unique little school.

Escaping Moshi

I really like living in Moshi.  It's quiet, safe, full of beautiful people, has all the shops and facilities we need and also has great mountain views on a clear day.  But at the same time it's dusty and hot, and after a while the routine of life becomes a bit mundane.  If I were back in Aus I'd jump in my car and go for a drive somewhere, but here there is no car to jump into!  Any opportunity to escape is just so refreshing.  I forget how beautiful and diverse this area of Tanzania is until I can get out of town and experience a new place.

About 3 weeks ago (two days before school started) the teachers and teacher assistants went on an excursion to Maji Moto (hot springs) about an hour and a half from Moshi.  The water isn't really hot, but so clear and beautiful!  It's like a little oasis in the middle of dry dusty nothingness.  I drove Bessie (the teacher van) and only got bogged twice!  The "road" to get there is more of a general direction rather than an actual road, and winds its way across ditches and muddy tracks.  It was so special and I hope to go back sometime soon....just not during the wet season or we'd never make it!

Lovely teachers and TAs enjoying the water

My camera has a selfie screen......so I take lots now

My attempt at gracefulness on the rope swing

Chips Mayai.  It's like an omelette and hot chips combined.
Super tasty!!!

This last weekend was another amazing opportunity to escape Moshi.  I was so tired after a week of school that part of me just wanted to curl up and sleep, but I'm so glad I didn't!  There's this group called the Mountain Club which is basically a group of expats who go on random camping adventures about once a month.  This adventure was an overnight trip to Snow Cap Cottages on the other side of Kilimanjaro!  We drove right around the base of Kili to just inside the Tanzanian/Kenyan border.  The place we stayed at was beautiful and really could have been a scene from Switzerland or something.  The cost all up for cabin accommodation plus 4 meals was TSH40,000 or about 25 Aussie dollars!  It was so green and being at a higher altitude was much cooler than Moshi.  I got to go on walks, sleep in a comfy bed, meet new people and sit in front of an open fire.  So special!

It's seems a long time since I've seen this much GREEN!

With the lovely Rebecca - my camping companion :)

Lots of beautiful pine forests

The view on our walk to Rongai Gate - the starting point
for climbers climbing Kili using the Rongai route

The gardens were so amazing!

Snow Cap Cottages - This is the view of the main building from our cabin

Our cottage

On our day 2 walk to check out the view of Kili

Kili as seen from the Kenyan (northern) side

Colobus Monkey - I've never seen them
this clearly before.

I'm very thankful to have a good camera....it's so special to
capture these cute fluffy monkeys.  

Now it's back to normal life here for a while.  This term seems so long, with not even a single public holiday for the whole 10 week term.  I'm sure I'll survive somehow....only 7 weeks to go!